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Dark Dwarf
Back to Races ---- Buildings ''Furnace'' The Furnace is a large building that offers armor and damage upgrades to the Dark Dwarven race, along side the usual keep related stuff. This unique trait also comes with an unique problem - these upgrades are really valuable and some of them take a long time to research. This means you will severely hinder tier progression while trying to obtain these upgrades. Unfortunately, it's not simple to just go and build another Furnace, one to just do the researching, because of the sheer size of the building which will take up your precious building room, that you will later regret when you are struggling to place down Siege Workshops in such a way that wont get your siege weapons stuck in your base. Well I suppose you could always choose to destroy it afterwards, but despite the tiring backlog researching these upgrades can causes, it is probably for the best to just stick with the initial one and choose carefully when to obtain those skills. Armorer 1: +5 armor for all units. Armorer 2: +10 armor for all units. (Requires Armorer 1) Weaponsmith 1: Adds +5 damage to non-flying melee units. Weaponsmith 2: Adds an additional +5 damage to non-flying melee units, making +10 together. (Requires Weaponsmith 1) Mithril: Adds a further +5 damage to non-flying melee units, making +15 overall, as well as +15 armor to all units. (Requires Weaponsmith 2) ''Guild'' The Guild is dedicated towards Siege Weapon upgrades and, more importantly, the production of the only non-Hero Dark Dwarves in the entire army - Engineers. The building is average in size, quick to build, but costs a lot of stone which causes problems for the Dark Dwarves early game, where Stone Golems, Engineers and buildings all demand the resource. Even though Engineers count as two men when placed in a mine and thus producing half the usual amount, typically you would want to build two of these early on for rapid mine filling or / and researching in one while the other maintains mine filling. Siegecraft: +4 range to all ranged Siege Weapons. Forge: +2 speed to all Siege Weapons and Golems. Alchemist Fire 1: +10 damage to Firebombs and Flame Cannons. Alchemist Fire 2: Adds an additional +10 damage to Firebombs and Flame Cannons, making +20 together. (Requires Alchemist Fire 1) ''Hall of Golems'' The Golems are the biggest basic infantry in the game, yet the building that produces them is surprisingly small. The Hall of Golems is also one of the Dark Dwarves two main production buildings, so it's very fortunate that they are smaller than the average building - especially as Dark Dwarves tend to run out of room fast when Siege Workshops start popping up (due to both size and "free space" needed around the Dark Dwarves base in general to accommodate for the large size of the Siege Weapons). As Stone Golems, the basic Dark Dwarven infantry, are very powerful for such a basic infantry, it does mean you wont need many at once to keep up with your enemy. Because of this you wont actually need many Hall of Golems very early on and can get away with as little as just two. However, later on you will find yourself building as many of these as you would with any other race's main production building. Shatter: +10 damage to Stone, Iron and Bronze Golems. Iron Fist: +3 combat to Stone, Iron and Bronze Golems. Bronze General: Bronze Golems convert 25% faster than usual. ''Eyrie'' The Dark Dwarves have access to some great fliers which can make their Eyrie worth building even at tier 2. Although not necessary to make the Dark Dwarves perform well, their basic and advanced fliers can be used effectively along side your main attack force to really insult your opponent through clever strategical actions. With Firebats able to target and burn down important enemy buildings, the Wyvern's ability to quickly aid the Dark Dwarven Siege Weapons, or generally cause panic with two solid Dragon choices, you can always find use for the units the Dark Dwarven Eyrie can produce. Golden Wyvern: +3 speed to Wyverns Units Tier 1 ''Engineer - Dark Dwarf Builder'' The Dark Dwarf builder is the only visible Dark Dwarf unit alongside the Hero. The Engineer boasts a great building skill, counts as two miners when sent into a mine and can be upgraded to repair structures using the Earthpower spell. Engineers also have good armor and resistance for a builder, as well as slashing resistance though he is vulnerable to piercing. ''Stone Golem - Basic Dark Dwarf Infantry'' The basic Dark Dwarven infantry unit, it has good armor and resistance, causes a very large amount of crushing damage and has a large amount of hitpoints by comparison to any other basic infantry unit. Its resistance to piercing attacks make it excellent for dealing with archers and arrow towers, but is very slow to move, slow to attack and unfortunately can't be put into towers. All golems share the Electrical weakness. Tier 2 ''Iron Golem - Advanced Dark Dwarf Infantry'' The Iron Golem is a very powerful unit, capable of causing havoc with its multi-hit ability. This golem can summon Fiebombs, withstand slashing damage, has better armor than the Stone Golem but less resistance. Its attack causes damage to every enemy engaged in close combat with or around the golem. The Iron Golem, like the others, share the weakness to electrical damage, have a slow attack and move speed as well as the inability to garrison. ''Ballista - Siege Weapon'' The Ballista is an anti-infantry siege weapon, capable of skewing both ground and air units with its bolts and their ability to pass through multiple units. Fragile and long ranged, the Ballista is ideal to be at the back of your lines or hiding behind walls / towers. Although it deals a decent amount of damage, its projectile and attack type are both resisted by towers, making it utterly hopeless to damage buildings. Because of this, as well as Dark Dwarves having access to Hellbores - another siege weapon that can hit both ground and air targets as well as being able to deal large damage to infantry and buildings alike, Ballistae are best left at home when base razing, where they can offer great offensive power against hordes of units wishing to assail your own base. ''Battering Ram - Siege Weapon'' Battering Rams are the most durable of all siege weapons, but not necessarily the most useful. Their speed couldn't be lower and their combat can off set their building razing capabilities due to the combat mismatch against the building, causing them to score a lot of misses. Also, not all towers will hit the Battering Ram against its higher armor rating or / and its special resistance, whereas the likes of the Catapult is equally as effective against all towers. Further more, Dark Dwarves have access to some amazing ranged siege weapons, dealing consistent high damage and from a safe distance. All this pretty much makes the Battering Ram obsolete for Dark Dwarves. However, they can be obtained as early as tier 2 whereas the ones that overshadow it arrive in tier 4. ''Firebat - Basic Flier'' Firebats are one of the very few basic fliers that can actually be used in some form of offensive strategy, and is the best one for tackling buildings. Although Dark Dwarves have plenty of answers for buildings, Firebats further their already broad options to include aerial assaults. However, due to their natural frailty, they're best used as opportunists and hit your opponent's buildings when they're least defended. Typically you would want to keep them back and swoop in to the enemy's base from the opposite side to target highly valuable buildings (Keeps Eyries / Nests / Broods) once you've lured the enemy units out with your siege weapons banging at their front door. Tier 3 ''Firebomb - Dark Dwarf Suicide Bomb'' The Firebomb is a suicide bomb unit which is cheap and resembles a spider. When facing large non-missile armies the Firebomb can quickly lay waste to many enemies due to their splash damage. Their fire typed attack also allows them to do massive damage to buildings, especially due to the way that their splash damage is allocated towards buildings. They can be summoned by Iron Golems and be put inside towers to provide speed and combat bonuses, but when the tower is destroyed they also explode around the tower, damaging many enemies which were engaged in close combat with the tower. ''Catapult - Siege Weapon'' Catapults have always been a great unit for many reasons, but the main one being able to safely demolish enemy towers far beyond their range. Dark Dwarves take that one step further by increasing their range to ensure no tower in the game could possibly hit them back! That itself would make you think that they would form the core of this siege heavy race - but no, Dark Dwarves are always trying to out do themselves and indeed succeeded in creating a more terrifying siege weapon for the same job - the Flame Cannon. Although it doesn't possess the amazing range as the Catapult - range 14 (after upgrades) is more than enough for it to out-range typical towers and remove them from the face of Etheria. This does mean that the Catapult is now greatly overshadowed in this role and must be used differently for it to be worth producing. Thankfully the Catapult's attacks do splash damage, which can be used to cause serious harm to tightly packed swarms of enemy infantry. But unlike the Ballista, the Catapult retains the ability to cause large damage to buildings, making it still useful when there are no enemy units present. However, to hit an enemy unit with the Catapult is no easy task. But with a wall of Golems up front, drawing in enemy units, the Catapults can take advantage of the Golems' natural durability to endure most things the enemy can throw at them, giving your Catapults a stationary target and the time to wind up and crush the enemy units hard! ''Wraith - Basic Undead Floating Infantry'' The Wraith is a floating Undead unit with a very special ability to leech the EXP out of any unit it kills (this includes Lair Bosses and Heroes). Wraiths have a resistance to elemental attacks but are vulnerable to all physical. Like all Undead, the Wraith gets a natural combat bonus at night. Wraiths can be summoned instantly by the Ancestral Hall building, but at a greatly increased cost. They can also be upgraded by the aforementioned building. ''Shadow - Advanced Undead Floating Infantry'' The upgrade from the wraith, these are stronger in almost every way. They retain the ability to leech the experience from slain enemies, the vulnerability to all physical and resistance to all elemental. Unlike the Wraith, the Shadow gets a bonus +5 combat on top of the Undead's natural combat bonus at night, making the Shadow an even more powerful unit in night conditions. Shadows can be summoned instantly by the Ancestral Hall building, but at a greatly increased cost. They can also be upgraded by the aforementioned building. Tier 4 ''Flame Cannon - Dark Dwarf Siege Weapon'' The Flame Cannon is the epitome of ranged firepower. There is no other non-titan unit in the game that is close to matching the firepower of this siege weapon. With upgrades, the Flame Cannon can outr-ange un-garrisoned towers and then proceed to wipe them off the face of the earth with a mind boggling 90 Fire damage. The Flame Cannon may be a little bit slow, but it is extremely cheap, powerful and fast in just about every way compared to almost all other other siege weapons. It is resistant to piercing damage like most siege weapons but ironically, it's vulnerable to Fire damage. ''Hellbore - Dark Dwarf Siege Weapon'' A unique siege weapon for the Dark Dwarves, the Hellbore is a powerful ranged unit, capable of slaying both ground and air units quite effectively with 50 Electrical damage. Whilst it may not be quite as powerful as some other siege weapons, its ability to target air is extremely useful. In this regard, it is capable of doing what almost all other siege weapons cannot, slay Dragons. Do not ever underestimate the Hellbore, as it can be upgraded in the same way as the Flame Cannon, which gives it decent speed and the ability to out-range un-garrisoned towers. An odd twist to this siege weapon is its resistance to Electrical and vulnerability to Crushing. ''Wyvern - Advanced Flier'' Wyverns are great units and arguable the best advanced flier in the game. (Pterodactyls have better stats but can't inflict fear and can't attack ground targets - probably why they went extinct.) Dark Dwarves were truly gifted when they were given Wyverns as their advanced flier as these great creatures can help them out with what Dark Dwarves really need - speed. A 15 speed stat is pretty good as it is, but that can be upgraded with the Golden Wyvern skill, pushing it to 18! With such speed and infantry killing power, Wyverns can quickly cut ahead of the enemy and act as a painful deter between them and your vulnerable siege weapons. The added trait of causing fear can worsen the enemy's luck, dropping their attack power and making your units seem that much more durable. Unfortunately even Wyverns have their downside. Firstly, their attack type leaves them unable to break buildings, although this isn't much of a problem for Dark Dwarves as pretty much everything else in their arsenal, including their basic flier, can demolish buildings with ease. But it does mean that they can't simply be let loose on the enemy base and rain terror. Secondly, one of their two resource costs is shared with a siege weapon. The cost of producing Wyverns along side the top-end siege weapons can be quite demanding, although it doesn't clash in any way with the two common Golems - Stone and Iron. So, really, even their weaknesses aren't all that bad. Tier 5 ''Bronze Golem - Dark Dwarf General'' The Bronze Golem is the toughest of the golems, and serves as the general for the Dark Dwarves. Like other golems, it is resistant to piercing but vulnerable to electrical attacks. Unlike the other golems however, the Bronze Golem can attack at a normal speed. Once upgraded, the Bronze Golem can convert buildings faster and becomes amongst the strongest of generals in the game, especially so considering its relatively low cost and very high 75 Crushing damage. The Bronze Golem has the ability to scavenge resources from destroyed buildings, making it a good retinue unit due to the need for resources in the early game whilst grabbing that extra bit of resources later on. Although it is cheap for its usefulness, it is slow to create as well as to move. ''Frost Dragon - Elite Flier'' Pretty much everything in the Dark Dwarven army is slow or / and has a slow attack speed. However, the Frost Dragon's trait of freezing the enemy can bring the combat down to a more even pace, where your Dark Dwarven units no longer seem so slow. This can massively help your siege weapons fire off their attacks against the enemy before they can react or destroy them in time. The Frost Dragon is no slouch when it comes to raw power, either, as frost type attacks are rarely resisted and a large 40 damage of it is sure to dent anything not immediately killed outright by the attack. Although, with the sheer power of the Dark Dwarven siege weapons and the Frost Dragon's lower than average HP (for a Dragon), it's best to limit the Frost Dragon to a support role and take out or hinder anything that threatens your vulnerable constructs. ''Fire Dragon - Elite Flier'' Fire Dragons follow the Dark Dwarven theme of specializing at tearing down buildings. The problem here is that Dark Dwarves have so many options at their disposal to do the job, that Fire Dragons aren't particularly needed. With Fire Bombs, Flame Cannons, Catapults, Battering Rams, Hellbores and even the Golems, there really is no need to spend such high resources on the Fire Dragon and you are better off going for the Frost Dragon in most cases. However, there is one thing the Fire Dragon can do that the many weapons-of-doom cannot - fly! This allows the Fire Dragon to attack an enemy from all directions and cause havoc when they least expect it, such as being used to sandwich an enemy base after once your siege weapons roll up and draw your enemy's attention, only for your Fire Dragon to strike from the complete opposite direction. ''Grond - Dark Dwarf Titan'' As you would expect from a giant Golem, Grond is very tough physically that can be further improved through the Armourer and Mithril upgrades, making him nigh impossible to take down with non-elemental attacks. Offensively, Grond's power is devastating to behold. With the Mithril skill researched he deals 175 crushing damage and hits surprisingly fast for a Golem. His attack type can lead to the downfall of anyone who is bold enough to stand there before him, as a random critical hit from him will stun the poor morsel which then usually results in a following deathblow from Grond's mighty iron fist. However, Grond's speed is appalling - being out-sped by nearly all infantry. This does mean that the enemy can easily "kite" him making him somewhat ineffective against infantry, despite dealing splash damage. Of course, buildings can't run away and with his natural bulk and power, he will often be used to spearhead a Dark Dwarven siege. Strategy Overview The Dark Dwarves are one of the elite races in the game that really don't have any glaring weaknesses. Their Engineers reap double rewards from placement in mines, allowing for rapid early production. They have a great mix of melee and ranged attacks, plus a few special siege units that create a truly lethal force for both offense and defense. Their hero class choices and towers have a few drawbacks (addressed below) but given the right hero level, these issues become insignificant enough to make the Dark Dwarves amongst the very top of race selections in the game. ''The Race'' Units Slow is the word of the day for the Dark Dwarves. Dark Dwarven units are slow to build, slow to move, and slow to attack. To make matters worse, most of their units draw heavily on stone and metal, limiting their (already slow) production rate. That said - these same units are extraordinarily strong, full of hit points, and carry plenty of armor and resistance. So do your best to stagger your golem production (among various types requiring different resources) while focusing on building the structures needed to produce your wyverns, wraiths/shadows, and siege engines (particularly the hellbore). As always, try to avoid letting your choice of unit production slow your keep improvements. Build an army of firebombs (either directly, or through iron golem production) and task them with base defense until you amass the forces needed to assault your opponent's base. Shadows are priceless - build a handful and send them all after a high-level enemy hero. The result will be a supershadow of level 20+, worthy of retaining in your retinue. Bronze Golems are relatively poor generals for production during a battle, although they are excellent choices for your retinue. In the endgame phase when they are available for production, their ability to scavenge resources is of negligible value, but early in the game, it can be priceless. Don't forget to set their attribute to Magic Defender so they automatically take advantage of this benefit. Fully upgraded Flame Cannons are absolutely devastating. They may not be able to target flying units, but the Hellbores and golems can take care of that easily. Once fully upgraded, Flame Cannons have 90, yes, that's right 90 Fire damage! This insane power is usually only within the reach of very special characters indeed. A Dark Dwarven assault force should consist of (at a minimum) a mixed core of golems on the front line, a couple of lines of Hellbores and Flame Cannons, and perhaps some shadows, firebombs, or wyverns in support (optional). The golems and hellbores alone are usually sufficient to take down a base, although a small group of wyverns or shadows tasked to guard the siege engines from attack is always a good idea. Once the enemy base is more defenceless, send in Firebombs to utterly annihilate the foe. Buildings ''Heroes'' The Dark Dwarven Tinker is a hero to be greatly feared, and for good reason. The Metal and Stone production costs of the units becomes negligible at higher levels (~ lvl 40). This allows the Tinker to excel in producing a massive and powerful army of golems to steamroll the entire map with. This isn't the only benefit of a Tinker however. They can also vastly improve the hits of all buildings, most importantly, including the towers. The Dark Dwarven magic speciality is in the Chaos Magic sphere. Chaos Magic is an unpredictable and often detrimental magic sphere, although a few selections are useful. (namely Wildfire/Chaos Bolt, Chaos Plague and Morph Resources). Given a preference to neglect magic as a Dark Dwarven hero, it is possible to select the Warrior class and use the Constitution synergy. For magic users, Shaman or Deathknight are the best choices for the use of Chaos Magic, as both give a synergy bonus. Another choice could be a Runemaster. In combination with the Engineer skill, Dig is useful for creating tough buildings in no time, Earthpower can repair the said buildings, Statues can be summoned for extra base defence while Doomstones and Stonecall harass and support against enemies respectively. Also, Quarrying is worth a mention. This skill provides a steady income of stone to produce and construct with. Time Magic provides spells that increase resource and unit production, buff the hero and his army while debuffing enemies, summon Wraiths (which can be upgraded at the Ancestral Hall) and kill many enemies at once with the Breath of Dying spell. Of course as a tertiary magic sphere you can still learn Chaos Magic, which might have poor early spells but the later ones can be truly useful and add extra versatilty to an already flexible mage/builder/leader hero. Counters *All of the golems are vulnerable to electrical damage. *Splash damage from units like Catapults or fire resistant units can help get around a horde of Firebombs. Ballistae and the High Elf Manticore may also work but may require more backup depending upon the formation of the Firebombs. *Fast units may attempt to take advantage of the slow golems and flank the siege weaponry whenever possible, but watch out for Firebombs and/or Iron Golems. *Dark Dwarves can't garrison units other than retinue ones and heroes in towers to increase their damage. The lower the Army Setup Points on a map, the more likely their towers will have upgraded damage. In any case un-garrisoned Dark Dwarf towers can't hold out for long without backup by units, many other towers and/or mortars against a powerful siege. To avoid any damage from garrisoned Firebombs, use flying units (particularly Storm Dragons or Lightning Hawks) or long range siege units like Catapults (if you use units with lower range, be careful not to get hit by mortars). Try to keep the pressure on the Dark Dwarf player. *Losing access to Metal or Stone can put a big dent in Dark Dwarf production. However, taking out Dark Dwarf Metal Mines is probably a wiser choice as a greater range of units require the resource, in particular the Iron Golem. *As the majority of Dark Dwarven units are mechanical, they are unable to place experienced golems or siege weaponry into a retinue, which means the Dark Dwarf hero either needs to play another race to get certain units (such as Scarabs or Gazers to upgrade towers for example) or the retinue of the Dark Dwarf will be predictable and/or bland in variety. Lore